Author: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP

“We didn’t set out to wow the world with starchitects and world-class architecture that we may or may not be able to use in the future,” stated Brent Toderian, Vancouver planning director, about this year’s Olympics in an interview in the Design Observer (See “Olympics in the City,” by Nate Berg, Design Observer, 02.10.10). Perhaps a jab at Shanghai, but, as the interview describes, this year’s Olympics’ scaled back approach to urban design may positively impact the city in the long run. Vancouver’s strategy was to develop a framework for sustainable development, in every sense of the word. “We had envisioned a world-class sustainable community for the False Creek area long before the Olympics were ever a gleam in our eyes. It was intended to be the greenest community in North America.”

Instead of going for the impressive array of world-renowned architects, Vancouver called on local talent — individuals intimately familiar with the site and surroundings. Toderian discussed using the Athletes Village as a baseline case study for future growth. The city developed a passive design toolkit, urban agriculture guidelines, and implemented sewer heat recovery. In addition to the Athletes Village, various urban improvements included upgraded transportation; the installation of a subway to the airport from downtown; the implementation of a public art initiative throughout the city; even new zoning regulations were put into practice. With most of the development occurring in the downtown area, there was limited urban sprawl, a strategy for which Vancouver is often celebrated.

However, Vancouver is not without its protestors. The Olympics Resistance Network and No Olympics on Stolen Land claim that the games are causing unnecessary environmental damage to the mountains and forests and expelling local residents from their homes.

Nevertheless, it seems as if Vancouver is trying to establish a new way of developing its city, with the expectation that mindsets will change toward sustainable thinking. All Olympic cities struggle with the challenge of trying to prevent obsolescence once the games are over. As Toderian questioned, “What good is a model of it doesn’t change business as usual, if it doesn’t make everything that comes after it better?” Hopefully, Vancouver will not only change its own urban practices, but it will also prove to be influential for other cities, whether or not they are hosting an Olympics.

Read about Grassroots in AIArchitect. Click the following links:

“Grassroots 2010 AIA Leadership and Legislative Conference: Component Leaders Take AIA’s ‘Blueprint for Economic Recovery’ to Capitol Hill,” by David W. Robb.

“Grassroots 2010 Keynote: Richard Farson Measures the Power of Design to Remake the World,” by Zach Mortice.

Design as inspiration, engagement, and collaboration: Live Web Presentations from AIA Grassroots 2010.

02.09.10 Editor’s Note: With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, be sure to check out Moorhead & Moorhead’s Ice Heart in Times Square when they start building it on 02.11.10, and before it melts on 02.14.10. See In the News for more information.

Also, stay tuned for full coverage of Grassroots in the next issue (02.23.10).

– Jessica Sheridan, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

OCULUS Correction: In the Winter 2009/2010 issue of OCULUS magazine, page 13, the new research center for Memorial Sloan Kettering was mis-credited. The architect is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Note: Be sure to follow Tweets from e-Oculus and the Center for Architecture .

Most people in NYC think of the gym when they think of fitness, despite the fact that there are so many parks, bike lanes, and unexpected places to get in the 30-min-a-day workout recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hopefully this will change as the urban fabric becomes more activity-friendly, thanks to publications like the “Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design,” issued by the NYC Departments of Design and Construction, Health and Mental Hygiene, Transportation, and City Planning, among other agencies (See “Active Design Guidelines Tell NYC to Shape Up,” by Jacqueline Pezzillo, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP in this issue of e-Oculus). Seminal to its development was the annual Fit City conferences hosted by AIANY, a collaborator on the publication.

In addition to the many case studies, which give full credit to the architectural firms (!), the Guidelines are broken down into chapters covering environmental design and health; urban design; building design; and synergies with sustainable and universal design. Charts and checklists make referring to the recommendations easy. Especially useful to those of us inundated with LEED requirements is a chart that compares LEED to Active Design criteria.

What makes the Guidelines so valuable, in my opinion, is that the report goes beyond simple data supported by research. Each suggestion is organized into three categories: strong evidence; emerging evidence; and best practice. It is the last category that makes the book interesting, since it “indicates strategies without a formal evidence base. However, theory, common understandings of behavior, and experience from existing practice indicate that these measures will likely increase physical activity.” Recommendations include signposts on bikeways that provide directions, distances, and times to various destinations; or stairs designed to be easily maintained so they will encourage use and discourage graffiti and vandalism. These are ideas that seem obvious once on paper, but are not inherently integrated into architecture.

Overall, the Guidelines are easy to read, have a lot of great photographs of thought-provoking projects — from the Richard Morris Hunt’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to 41 Cooper Square by Morphosis Architects (the latest poster child for active design) — and are sure to catch the imagination of architects. Now is the time to roll out chairs from behind computer screens and actively engage with the built environment!

The “Urban Umbrella” entry to the UrbanSHED competition stood out to me at a recent discussion with the three finalist teams at the Center for Architecture (See “Sidewalk Sheds With Better Design Cred,” by Lisa Delgado, e-Oculus, 01.12.10). So I was excited when Mayor Bloomberg announced last Thursday that the entry won the competition, and that a prototype will be constructed this summer (See Around the AIA).

The design, as the name implies, took inspiration from umbrellas. By using circular geometry, the platform will be constructed with pie-shaped, translucent, fiberglass panels that can be assembled in different configurations. The panels themselves will allow natural light to penetrate to the sidewalk, and can be comprised of various colors, patterns, or designs that can be personalized to the needs of the owner of the building being protected. Of the finalists, this was the only proposal that would make a restaurant desire a construction canopy over its outdoor café.

This was also the only proposal that truly considered scale. The structure is created when two “umbrellas” join together to make a three-pin frame, which transfers load to the columns. As Sarrah Khan, PE, LEED AP, principal of the Agencie Group, co-winners of the competition, explained, because of the redundancy of the structure the size of the footings can be smaller and wind loads can easily be distributed through the frame. Lighting is incorporated into the struts, illuminating the sidewalk at night with fan-shaped patterns. And, like an umbrella opens and closes, so does the structure depending on the widths and height requirements of the sidewalks.

By using components that are similar to those in current sidewalk sheds, the umbrellas can be constructed similarly as well, and pieces may be used for both types of construction. Again, out of all the finalists, the Urban Umbrella was the only one that truly considered sustainability, which was one of the main issues outlined in the RFP.

I hope the prototype will live up to my expectations of the design. If it does, this contest is one of many in the history of design competitions that could radically accelerate the careers of its trio of young winners, Young Hwan Choi, an architecture student at the University of Pennsylvania, and Sarrah Khan, PE, and Andrés Cortés, AIA, principals of the Agencie Group.